Apparatus for providing a proper mixture of fuel and oil for an internal combustion engine



M y 30, 1961 c. L. SPEXARTH 2,986,162

APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A PROPER MIXTURE OF FUEL AND OIL FOR AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE I Filed Sept. 9, 195a ii a 2.9 s x 5/ I a L i *7 I I Z INVENTOR.

CHE/$77M 4. 5 5M071 United States Patent O APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A PROPER MIX- TURE OF FUEL AND OIL FOR AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Christian L. Spexarth, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Harley- Davidson Motor Co., Milwaukee, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Sept. 9, 1958, Ser. No. 759,967

2 Claims. (Cl. 137-571) This invention relates to apparatus for providing a proper mixture of fuel and oil for an internal combustion engine which requires the mixture of oil with fuel for engine lubrication.

It is conventional practice to mix a given quantity of oil with a given quantity of fuel in a can and then to use the mixture from that can to fill the fuel tank of a two-cycle engine from time to time as required. In the case of a vehicle such as a motorcycle or a motorboat having a two-cycle engine, it may be necessary to fill the fuel tank when the vehicle is remote from the can in which such a mixture is maintained on hand. This requires a somewhat messy operation in which a filling station attendant, for example, has to measure out and place in the tank exactly predetermined amounts of fuel and oil.

The present invention eliminates this difliculty by providing the vehicle with one tank for oil and a separate tank for the mixture, the preferred arrangement being one in which the oil tank is placed inside of the fuel mixture tank. In association with these two tanks is a pump whose capacity is related in any desired manner with a given quantity of fuel so that, upon placing a predetermined quantity of fuel in the fuel tank, a predetermined operation or operations of the pump will deliver into the fuel tank a quantity of oil which is exactly in proper proportion of the stated quantity of fuel.

The present exemplification of the invention is one in which a displacement pump is used, the diameter and stroke of its piston being such that with every stroke of the piston, the pump will deliver the exact amount of oil required for admixture with one-half gallon of fuel. Thus, assuming that the operator of the vehicle finds that he requires a gallon of fuel, and assuming that he has a supply of oil already present in his oil tank, it will be necessary only to operate his pump piston two full strokes to eifect automatically the delivery into the fuel tank of the precise amount of oil required for admixture with the gallon of fuel added. If one and a half gallons are added, three strokes of the pump will deliver the right amount of oil.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the pump is nested in the oil tank and the oil tank in turn is placed in the fuel tank and a single filler cap covers the pump as well as giving access to the oil tank, the handle of the pump being exprosed when the filler cap is removed.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view of the preferred organization of nested tanks in longitudinal section, the pump being shown in side elevation.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view fragmentarily illustrating the pump in section.

Fig. 3 is a view taken in section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The engine fuel tank 5 is provided with a filling neck 6 having a cap 7 removable for the introduction of fuel. Nested within the tank 5 is an oil tank 8 which may conveniently be suspended from the top wall 9 of the fuel Patented May 30, 19611 tank 5 about the oil filling neck 10 which has a removable closure 11.

Mounted within the oil tank 8 is a pump generically designated by reference character 15. This has a cylinder r16 screwed into the cup-shaped discharge chamber 17, the flanges 18 of which are welded or otherwise fastened to the bottom of the oil tank 8.

Within the cylinder is a piston 20 having a piston rod 21 provided with a handle 25 at its upper end. The rod extends through the annular guide plug 26 screwed into the upper end of the cylinder. The handle projeots up into the neck 10 at a level where it is readily accessible to the operator. To protect it from the oil, it is housed within a removable cover 27 telescopically sleeved over the cylinder and connected by the member 28 with the filler cap 11. Fixed in the lower end of the cylinder is an annular valve head 29 which is provided with a seat for the spring loaded check valve 30,

this valve being biased toward its seat by the compression of spring 31. An annular groove 32 in the valve head 29 registers with ports 33 in the cylinder wall to receive oil from tank 8. Opening axially from the groove or channel 32. are additional ports 34 normally closed by an annular valve plate 35 which is held against excessive displacement by the flange 36 of retainer 37 fixed within the valve head 29.

With each upward reciprocation of the piston 20, oil is drawn from the tank 8 through the ports 32 and 34 into the cylinder 16. Upon each downward reciprocation of the piston 20, the valve plate 35 seals the ports 34 and the oil is displaced into the discharge chamber 17 by forcing open the check valve 30. From the chamber 17, pipe 38 leads to the upper part of the gasoline tank 5. Desirably its terminal portion 39 is directed downwardly as shown in Fig. 1 so that the oil delivered with substantial velocity from the downwardly turned end portion 39 of pipe 38 will be forced into mixture with the gasoline or other fuel in the tank.

There are very substantial advantages in the arrangement illustrated, in which the pump and the oil tank and the fuel tank are all nested. However, except as noted in the appended claims, I do not wish to limit this invention to this nested arrangement of the parts since, so far as I am aware, it is broadly new in a fuel tank and oil tank organization to provide pump means having in each unit operation a delivery which is proportioned to a given unit of fuel as measured in gallons or the like in precisely the desired ratio in which oil should be mixed with the fuel. While I do not wish to be limited to particular proportions, the following is an example.

In any such arrangement, the oil tank desirably has a capacity such as to supply a large number of unit operations of the pump. In the selected embodiment, the fuel mixture tank may hold two or more gallons. One-half gallon represents the fuel unit upon which pump capacity is based. The oil tank holds two quarts and each single full stroke of the piston delivers about three ounces into the fuel tank. These figures are based on the requirements of one particular engine for which oil is mixed with gasoline in the ratio of six ounces of oil for every gallon of gasoline. Regardless of how many half gallons of fuel are placed in the fuel tank in the device selected as an exemplification of the invention, it is only necessary for the operator to actuate the pump one full stroke for each half gallon of fuel each time the mixture tank is filled.

I claim:

1. In an organization for supplying oil and fuel to an engine requiring admixture of oil with its fuel in prede' termined portions, the combination with a tank for such mixture, 2. separate oil tank within the mixture tank and having a removable closure, and a pump within the oil tank having a manually operable part provided with a handle accessible through said closure and having an input connection with the oil tank and a discharge connection with the mixture tank, said pump having a capacity so related to a given unit volume of fuel receivable into the mixture tank that a given unit operation of said pump will deliver into the mixture tank the precise amount of oil needed to be added to said unit volume of fuel to meet the predetermined portion of oil and fuel mixture required by said engine.

2. In a device for supplying fuel and oil to an engine requiring mixture thereof in predetermined proportions, a first tank having a filling opening and closure therefor for receiving the fuel and for retaining the fuel-oil mixture, a second tank within the fuel tank and having a filling opening and closure therefor for receiving and retaining oil separately from the fuel, a piston pump within the oil tank and having a handle accessible only through the oil tank filling opening and comprising a unitary valve head connected with the pump and threadedly engaged with the oil tank for removal of the entire pump as a unit, the valve head having an inlet ,check valve controlling a passage for inflow of oil from the oil tank into the pump and an outlet check valve for controlling a passage for discharge of oil from the pump, and a discharge pipe for delivering oil from the pump to adjacent the top of the fuel tank for admixture of the oil to the fuel, the pump constituting the only means of moving oil from the oil tank to the fuel tank and being of a size whereby one stroke .of the piston discharges into the fuel tank a given amount of the oil required for a given amount of fuel placed in the fuel tank.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 245,270 Barker Aug. 28, 1881 372,250 Bowser Oct. 25, 1887 921,594 Crane May 11, 1909 1,615,413 Snyder Jan. 25, 1927 1,754,078 Borzi Apr. 8, 1930 2,405,442 Mayo Aug. 6, [1 946 2,899,815 Hetrick Aug. 18, 1959 

